sven.eggimann@mail.huji.ac.il

About myself

I am an Associate Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, researching next-generation urban infrastructure systems in a changing climate. My interdisciplinary research focuses on next-generation urban infrastructure systems in a changing climate, focusing on buildings, energy, water, transportation and their interconnected nature. I am developing urban analytics and computational methods to assess, mitigate and adapt to risks from climate change for interconnected built and environmental systems. My current research ambition is to establish simulation methods for impact-based forecasting to increase urban resilience and sustainability whilst improving liveability and infrastructure services for all.

  I bridge the fields of geospatial analytics, urban planning, economics, environmental sciences and engineering. My interdiscilplinary research is motivated by the challenge of transitioning fast our natural and urban built environment and infrastructure systems into a sustainable future by adapting and mitigating climate change.

I have conducted academic reserach at the following institutions: I received a PhD at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (eawag) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). In my PhD thesis, I analysed the potential for a sustainability transition of decentralised wastewater treatment systems and the role of data-driven technologies, for which I received one of the prestigious ETH medals. Before, I was awarded a BSc and MSc in Geography with a specialisation in Geographical Information Systems at the University of Zürich (UZH).


Publications



2025
Elliot R., Koirala B., Rüdisüli M., Eggimann S. (under submission/review): Emission-responsive charging of electric cars and carsharing to improve the security of supply.
Eggimann S. (2025): Deprioritising cars beyond rerouting: Future research directions of the Barcelona Superblock. Cities, 157, 105609. doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2024.105609

2024
Eggimann S. (2024): Potential Superblock sites for selected cities in the United States. Zotero data set. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12667315
Stevanovic S., Eggimann S. (2024): Schwammstadt und Superblock - neue Ansätze für die Umgestaltung von Quartieren. Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Forstwesen, 175 (5), 250–255. doi.org/10.3188/szf.2024.0250
Eggimann S., Fiorentini, M. (2024): Transferring energy signatures across space and time to validate their use for rapid urban heating and cooling energy demand estimation. Energy and Buildings, 114348. doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2024.114348

2023
Vulic N, Eggimann S., Sulzer M., Orehounig K. (2023): National building stock model for evaluating the impact of different retrofit measures. CISBAT - The built environment in transition, doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2600/3/032004
Eggimann S., Vivian J., Fiorentini M. (2023): Heating and cooling European buildings with lakes? Europhysics News, 54, 3, 16–19. doi.org/10.1051/epn/2023301
Chaudry M., Jayasuriya L., Hall J.W., Jenkins H., Eyre N., Eggimann S. (2023): Simulating flexibility, variability and decentralisation with an integrated energy system model for Great Britain. Scientific Reports, 13, 4772. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31257-9
Eggimann S., Vivian J., Chen R., Orehounig K., Patt A., Fiorentini M. (2023): The potential of lake-source district heating and cooling for European buildings. Energy Conversion and Management, 283, 116914. doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2023.116914
Eggimann S., Mutschler R., Orehounig K., Fiorentini M. (2023): Climate change shifts the trade-off between lower cooling and higher heating demand from daylight saving time in office buildings. Environmental Research Letters, 18, 024001. doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acb0e3
Rüdisüli M, Teske S.L., Sidler D., van den Heuvel D., Diamond L.W., Mutschler R., Orehounig K., Eggimann S. (2023): Potential of renewable surplus electricity for power-to-gas and geo-methanation in Switzerland. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 48, 14527–14542. doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.12.290

2022
Perera A.T.D., Khayatian F., Eggimann S., Orehounig K., Halgamuge S. (2022): Machine learning to quantify the propagation of climate-induced uncertainties in energy systems Applied Energy, 328, 120169. doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120169
Orehounig K., Fierz L., Allan J., Eggimann S., Vulic N., Bojarski A. (2022): CESAR-P: A dynamic urban building energy simulation tool. Journal of Open Source Software, 7(78), 4261. doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00855-2
Allan J., Eggimann S., Wagner M., Ho Y.N., Züger M., Schneider U., Orehounig K. (2022): Operational and embodied emissions associated with urban neighbourhood densification strategies. Energy and Buildings, 276, 112482. doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.112482
Eggimann S. (2022): The potential of implementing superblocks for multifunctional street use in cities Nature Sustainability, 5, 406–414. doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00855-2
Eggimann S. (2022): Expanding urban green space with superblocks. Land Use Policy, 117, 106111. doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106111
Eggimann S., Vulic N., Rüdisüli M., Mutschler R, Orehounig K., Sulzer M. (2022): Bottom-up building stock clustering of Switzerland. Energy and Buildings, 111844. doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.111844
Rüdisüli M., Romano E., Eggimann S., Patel M.K. (2022): Greenhouse gas emissions in electricity: Assessing impacts of different decarbonization strategies. Energy Policy, 2022, 112794 doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2022.112794
Silva, R., Eggimann S., Fierz L., Orehounig K., Baldini L. (2022): Opportunities for passive cooling to mitigate the impact of climate change in Switzerland. Building and Environment, 208, 108574. doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108574

2021
Eggimann S., Lischer P., Bolliger J. (2021): Evaluating superblock design to enhance urban greening. Journal of Physics: Conference Proceedings. doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2042/1/012005
Eggimann S., Wagner M., Ho Y.N., Züger M., Schneider U., Orehounig K. (2021): Geospatial simulation of sustainable urban densification potentials. Sustainable Cities and Society, 72, 103068. doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103068
Mutschler, R., Rüdisüli, M., Heer, P., Eggimann S. (2021): Benchmarking cooling and heating energy demands with respect to climate change, population growth and device uptake. Applied Energy, 288, 116636. doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.116636

2020
Zorn C., Koks E., Eggimann S. (2020): Demand side management to improve electricity network resilience. ArXiv Pre-Print. http://arxiv.org/abs/2008.04954
Eggimann S., Wagner M., Chen T., Yoo N.H., Schneider U., Orehounig K. (2020): Sustainable urban densification potentials: a geospatial analysis of Swiss post-war neighbourhoods. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 588, 1.01 – 1.05. doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/588/2/022040
Eggimann S., Usher W., Eyre N., Hall J.W. (2020): How weather affects energy demand variability in the transition towards sustainable heating. Energy, 195C, 116947. doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.116947

2019
Moy de Vitry M., Schneider M.Y., Wani O., Manny L., Leitão J., Eggimann S. (2019): Smart urban water systems: What could possibly go wrong? Environmental Research Letters, 14(8), 081001. doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab3761
Moy de Vitry M., Schneider M.Y., Wani O., Manny L., Leitão J., Eggimann S. (2019): A high-resolution spatio-temporal energy demand simulation to explore the potential of heating demand side management with largescale heat pump diffusion. Applied Energy, 236, 997-1010. doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.12.052

2018
Eggimann S., Truffer B., Feldmann U., Maurer M. (2018): Screening European market potentials for small modular wastewater treatment systems – an inroad to sustainability transitions in urban water management? Land Use Policy, 78, 711–725. doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.07.031

2017
Eggimann S., Mutzner L., Wani O., Schneider M., Moy de Vitry M., Beutler P., Maurer M. (2017): The Potential of Knowing More: A Review of Data-Driven Urban Water Management. Land Use Policy, 51 (5), 2538–2553. doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b04267

2016
Eggimann S., Truffer B., Maurer M. (2016): The cost of hybrid waste water systems: a systematic framework for specifying minimum cost-connection rates. Water Reserach, 103, 472–484. doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2016.07.062
Eggimann S., Truffer B., Maurer M. (2016): Economies of density for on-site waste water treatment. Water Reserach, 101, 476–489. doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2016.06.011

2015
Eggimann S., Truffer B., Maurer M. (2015): To connect or not to connect? Modelling the optimal degree of centralisation for wastewater infrastructures. Water Reserach, 84, 218–231. doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2015.07.004


Thesis
Eggimann S. (2016): The optimal degree of centralisation for wastewater infrastructures. A model-based geospatial economic analysis. Doctoral Thesis. ETH Zurich, Switzerland. doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-010811248
Eggimann S. (2013): Potential for a sustainability transition of decentralised wastewater systems for Switzerland on the level of urban structural units. Master Thesis. University of Zürich, Switzerland. Link


Reports
Barbey Horvath J., Delacrétaz Y., Eggimann S. (2024): Urbane Strassenraumnutzung in der Schweiz. Explorative Studie zu verschiedenen Instrumenten mit Fokus auf den Superblock. Städtekonferenz Mobilität (eds.), Bern, Schweiz. Link en | fr
Vulic N., Eggimann S., Orehounig K., Sulzer M. (2022): Erst sortieren, dann sanieren. Die Auswirkung verschiedener Sanierungsstrategien auf den Energieverbrauch von Schweizer Wohngebäuden Konferenz Kantonaler Energiefachstellen (EnFK) (eds.)
VSE, EBP, Empa (eds.) (2022): Energieversorgung der Schweiz bis 2050. Bern, Switzerland. Link
Eggimann S., Allan J., Wagner M., Ho Y.N., Züger M., Schneider U., Orehounig K. (2021): Urban densification and its impact on energy use in Swiss cities. Final Report. Bern, Switzerland. Link


Other contributions in specialist journals and outlets
Verband Schweizerischer Elektrizitätsunternehmen (2025): Preisgünstigeres Laden erhöht CO2-Emissionen. 1.2025.Link
Aqua & Gas (2023): Heizen und Kühlen mit Seewasser? November 2023 Link
Bulletin (2023): Stromsparen bei Eingpässen koordinieren. May 2023. Link
Verband Schweizerischer Elektrizitätsunternehmen (2023): Koordiniertes Energiesparen in Haushalten. 30.1.2023. Link
SpringerNature (2022): Transforming cities with superblocks. Link
Verband Schweizerischer Elektrizitätsunternehmen (2021): Wird Kühlen das neue Heizen? Bulletin, 30.08.2021. Link
N+L Inside (2021): «Grau zu Grün»: Analyse zum Transformationspotential des Strassenraums in der Stadt Zürich. Link
ETH Blog (2021): Keeping it cool in Switzerland: Keeping it cool in Switzerland: The critical impact of air-conditioning uptake. Link
Global Infrastructure Hub (2020): Re-thinking wastewater infrastructure in times of crisis and rapid urbanisation. Link

Research interests

Geospatial infrastructure analytics

My core focus is on advancing urban analytics and spatial computational methods to explore sustainable infrastructure design and operation, adaptation strategies to climate change or assessing, predicting, and mitigating risks from natural and man-made hazards. I unlock the potential of different sources of user-generated and crowd-sourced data such as ever-evolving smart metering, apply data-driven methods, use land use analysis or develop spatial algorithms to assess critical infrastructure system-of-systems.

Urban heat & climate change

Im stronlgy interested in urban hazards and extreme weather events such as heat- or cold waves and their impact on infrastructure systems, particularly surrounding buildings, water and the energy system. My focus lies on climate-change-induced temperature increases and assessing potential infrastructural and societal risk and climate mitigation opportunities, including solutions such as lake cooling, urban green spaces, passive cooling or smart technologies to support behavioural change.

The water-energy-climate nexus

Urban water and energy systems are being redefined for a digital age, promising substantial advantages for service users and providers, as well as for society as a whole. Besides environmental energy-water infrastructure impacts, my research interest focuses on the benefits and challenges of harvesting novel sensing data in smart cities and how data-driven solutions could bring about a sustainability transition and improve liveability.

Superblocks and urban green infrastructure

Superblocks as an innovative and unconventional urban transformation strategy to create pedestrian-centric neighbourhoods and facilitate alternative street use such as urban greening, pedestrian or cycling to increase liveability and sustainability. I assess unconventional urban design approaches to tackle the manifold challenges today’s cities face due to climate change and urbanisation, such as urban heat, strained infrastructure, and air- or noise pollution.

Builet environment systems

One of my research interest is investigating the impact of geography and the potential of densification on the resulting energy performance of buildings and neighbourhoods, being a pressing societal challenge. Particular foci are the interplay between the densification site and the integration of neighbourhoods into the energy system, the study of natural resource use, or the interplay of densification with mobility.

Heating and cooling building energy demand

Quantifying the impact of climate change and socio-technical drivers on energy demand through developing bottom-up and top-down simulation approaches using archetype analysis, ranging from the local to the continental scale. Integrating sources of uncertainties and climate data projections for high-resolution cooling and heating demand estimation, concerning e.g., the diffusion of heat pumps, air-conditioning, or passive cooling opportunities.

Press

Below you find selected media coverage and outreach of my research.

The Washington Post
How to transform city streets — without losing your parking spot
Amanda Shendruk, 13.08.2024
La Reppublica
Ritorno all’ora solare, ma adottare l’ora legale per tutto l’anno porterebbe a benefici per l'ambiente
Giacomo Talignani, 29.10.2024
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Tempo 30 war gestern: In Basel sollen für Autos ganze Quartierteile gesperrt werden – wie in Barcelona
15.07.2024
SRF 10vor10
Superblocks - Stadtstrassen begrünen statt befahren
27.03.2024
SRF, Regionaljournal Basel Baselland
Stadtstrassen begrünen statt befahren: Die Superblocks kommen.
20.01.2024
Business Insider, Eliza Relman
The key to solving loneliness and pollution might be giving up cars and hanging out in the street. It's working in Barcelona.
01.12.2023
Läbegi Stadt, Stadt Zeitung
Superblocks in Bern?
01.09.2023
Radio SRF, Rendez-vous
Hitze: Schweiz «gefährlich unvorbereitet»
Bochsler Katharina, 11.08.2023
Radio SRF, Rendez-vous
Kühlen ist das neue Heizen
Bochsler Katharina, 09.08.2023
Julius Bär, Vision
Investing in the human side of real estate
John Franklin, 18.07.2023
News Plus: Der tägliche News-Podcast von SRF
Der «Superblock»: Die Lösung für lebenswerte Innenstädte?
Dominik Brand, 30.06.2023
anthropocenemagazine
How daylight saving time could help fight climate change
Sarah DeWeerdt, 28.03.2023
RTI (Television)
Ora legale e risparmio di energia
Telegiornale, 26.03.2023
RTS (Television)
L'heure d'été favoriserait les économies d'énergie, selon une étude suisse
1930, 26.03.2023
Die Zeit
Und wieder 217 Tage lang Sommerzeitkater
Claudia Vallentin, 25.03.2023
NZZ
Die Zeitumstellung bewirkt nur minimal, was sie soll – kann aber einen Beitrag zum Klimaschutz leisten
Max Sprick, 25. March 2023
Wirtschaftswoche
Nützt die Sommerzeit dem Klimaschutz?
Thomas Kuhn, 25. March 2023
Le Temps
Le changement d’heure d’été permet des économies de climatisation dans les bureaux, selon une étude
25. March 2023
The Guardian
Could putting the clock forward help tackle the climate crisis?
Kate Ravilious, 2. February 2023
Energate
Die Verantwortung für die Versorgungssicherheit muss klar definiert werden
6. February 2023
eCity
Building a better city – superblocks in Barcelona
1. February 2023
Hochparterre
Corona als Verkehrskatalysator?
Gabriela Neuhaus, October 2022
Spektrum Magazin
Superblocks für lebenswertere Städte
Andreas Frey, 2.08.2022
2050
Blockbuster
Jessica Braun
Das Schindler Magazin
Superblocks: Barcelonas autofreie Kieze
Martin Hildebrandt, 14.011.2022
Topos Magazine
Superblocks in urban planning
2.08.2022
Garten + Landschaft
Superblocks in der Stadtplanung
Laura Puttkamer, 18.08.2022
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Klimaanlagen schaden dem Klima. Was sind Alternativen?
Ruth Fulterer, 20.07.2022
Baublatt
Verkehrsberuhigung mit Superblocks?
Gabriela Neuhaus, 25.08.2022
Basler Zeitung
In Wohnstrassen soll Tempo 10 gelten
Sebastian Schanzer, 7.07.2022
emmett
Studie zu Superblocks: Daten zeigen das Potenzial verkehrsberuhigter Zonen
Eike Kühl, 28.07.2022
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Mein Block
Lukas Lorber, 11.05.2022
NZZ magazin
Der grüne Block
Andreas Frey, 16.04.2022
Espazium
Wie viel Energie benötigt die Verdichtungsformel
Benedikt Vogel, 19.04.2022
El Planeto Urbano
Superblocks y smart cities
Laura Marajofsky, 25.04.2022
InsideHook
Can America Replicate Barcelona’s Plan to Transform Busy Streets Into Beautiful Parks?
Tanner Garrity, 13.04.2022
NZZ
Importe machen den Schweizer Strom schmutzig
Jürg Meier, 12.02.2022
Fast Company
How Barcelona’s ‘superblocks’ could work in other cities
Adele Peters, 21.03.2022
Inside Climate News
Barcelona’s Innovation
Katelyn Weisbrod, 26.03.2022
Anthropocenemagazine
Barcelona-style “superblocks” could make a surprising number of cities greener and less car-centric
Sarah DeWeerdt, 8.03.2022
El Periodico
¿Se pueden exportar las 'superilles' de Barcelona a otras ciudades?
Michele Catanzaro
Espazium
Un meil­leur amé­na­ge­ment ur­bain grâce aux «Su­per­blocks»
Landbote
Der vergessene Süperbloc
Till Hirsekorn, 24.03.2022

Talks

If you are interested on having me as a speaker, plese reach out to me. Below, you find a selection of invited presentation and lectures.

2024
  • Superblocks - quo vadis? Generalversammlung ArboCityNet, 29.03.2024.
2023
  • Explorative Studie zur urbanen Strassenraumnutzung in der Schweiz. Schweizerische Städtekonferenz, Freiburg, 3 November 2023.
  • Superblocks: Was? Wo? Wieviel? Grünes Bündis, Bern, 12 June 2023.
  • Superblocks in Bern? 30 Jahresversammlung Läbigi Stadt, Bern, 8 May 2023.
  • Superblocks und die Schweiz? Vorstand Läbigi Stadt, Bern, 27 January 2023.
2022
  • Begrünung der Stadt mit Superblocks. Stadt Zürich, 22 November 2022, Zürich, Switzerland
  • Superblocks: Potential und Herausforderungen. 9. September 2022, Vorstand der SKM (Städteverband Schweiz), Bern, Switzerland.
  • Nachhaltige Verdichtung und energetische Auswirkungen. Expertengespräch InSitu & BFE, 29. June 2022, InSitu, Switzerland.
  • Superblocks in der Schweiz? Eine Potentialanalyse zur Transformation von Städten. Glow, das Glattal. Regionalkonferenz, 8. June 2022, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
  • Superblocks in Basel? Eine Potentialanalyse zur Transformation von Städten Quartierlabor Basel Veranstaltung, 7. May 2022, Basel, Switzerland.
  • Rethinking Swiss urban infrastructure systems in times of crisis24 February 2022, Séminaire Energie-environnement, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Opportunities of sustainable urban neighbourhood densification and energy impacts in Switzerland. RFA ReP+ Energy colloquium, July 2022, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
2021
  • Rethinking infrastructure systems in times of crisis. Seminar Series at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, January 2021, Switzerland.
  • Evaluating superblock design to enhance urban greening. CISBAT 2021 Carbon-neutral cities - energy efficiency and renewables in the digital era 8-10 September 2021, EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland.
Older
  • A European perspective on market potentials of modular wastewater treatment.International virtual conference – earthworms, water fleas and algae: the future of wastewater treatment?, INNOQUA, 17 Nov 2020.
  • Sustainable urban densification potentials: a geospatial analysis of Swiss post-war neigh-bourhood. BEYOND Conference, Stockholm, 2-4 Nov 2020.
  • Bestimmung des nachhaltigen Verdichtungspotentials und energetischer Auswirkungen auf Quartiersebene in der Schweiz.Brenet Seminar, 3–4. Sep. 2020, Aarau, Switzerland.
  • Exploring UK demand management potential for space and water heating through high reso-lution spatio-temporal simulation modelling. 10th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2018), 22–25 August 2018, Hong Kong, China.
  • The optimal degree of centralisation for wastewater infrastructures.4th Water Research Conference: The Role of Water Technology Innovation in the Blue Economy. 10–13 September 2017, Waterloo, Canada.
  • Where to transition to? A full cost framework to analyse a transition from centralised to de-centralised urban waste water infrastructure. SPRU’s 50th Anniversary conference on Transforming Innovation, 7–9 September 2016, SPRU, University of Sussex, United Kingdom.
  • Where will it all start? A model based search for spaces of niche formation for new sanitation systems. 6th International Sustainability Conference, 25–28 August 2015, SPRU, University of Sussex, United Kingdom.
  • Assessing the spatial trajectory of niche development expansion: A GIS based analysis of market growth of on-site treatment in urban water management. 4th International Conference on Sustainability Transitions. 19–22 June 2013, Zürich, Swit-zerland

Grants and awards


  • SNSF SPARK Grant (100'000 CHF) Superblocks: automated identification and evaluation of urban greening potentials. Swiss National Science Foundation, 2021. Online information
  • ETH-Medal for an outstanding doctoral thesis. ETH Zürich, Zürich, 2019.
  • #1 Prize: Best Master thesis Swiss Society for Applied Geography (SGAG), Olten, 2014.

Contact

  • CONTACT INFO

  • Sven Eggimann
    Department of Geography
    The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
    Mount Scopus,
    Jerusalem 91905
    Israel

    sven.eggimann@mail.huji.ac.il